LaTanya Rodgers wielded her reaching claw like a sword, using her forearm to shield her face from snapping tree branches. Dressed in camouflage, she battled through the dense brush at Hatcher Park, determined to pick up as much trash as possible.
“When people pollute, they’re not just disrespecting Gary, they’re disrespecting God’s country,” Rodgers said.
Rodgers was among the dozens of residents and volunteers who gathered on a brisk Saturday morning at Hatcher Park, located on 21st Avenue on the city’s East Side, to participate in a cleanup campaign. This effort is part of a months-long initiative where Gary residents join forces with the city’s understaffed general services department to fuel a robust, citywide cleanup effort.
The campaign, titled Think B.I.G. (Beauty in Gary), mobilizes a volunteer workforce to tackle trash accumulation from illegal dumping, littering, and overgrowth in neglected parks.
“We want to do it through every neighborhood, because it’s all our city,” said Markael Watkins, coordinator of Think B.I.G. and senior adviser to the mayor’s office. “We wanted to get the community engaged to help bring pride back to the city, and show people we care and love the city.”
The scene at Hatcher Park on Saturday was lively, with volunteers smiling and chatting as they labored to tidy up the area.
Two women, hauling large cut branches from trees, sang “Come Together” by the Beatles, and dumped them in bright orange Home Depot trash bins.
Fraternity brothers from Kappa Alpha Psi, dressed in crimson and cream paraphernalia, mingled as they cleaned a densely wooded area beside the road.
“It’s an opportunity to give back to the community,” said Jermaine Boyette, a member of the Gary alumni chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi.
For Dwane Williams Jr., a 41-year-old Gary resident, the weekly cleanups are a family affair. “Me and the kids come out every weekend,” said Williams, with his daughter and two sons by his side.
“I want to teach them the importance of community and that hard work is a way of life,” he said. “This is how we bring value back and fight for our city.”
Williams’ 14-year-old son, Zavion, stayed busy at Hatcher Park, from picking up trash to trimming grass with a weed wacker.
“This is helping the environment be better,” Zavion said.
Zavion and his 13-year-old sister, Zion, said they hear the negative stereotypes about Gary but choose not to believe them.
“People say Gary won’t be nothing, but the more we clean, the better it’ll be,” Zion said.
City officials, council members, and a state lawmaker were also present at Hatcher Park.
“I’m happy to be a part of bringing this park back,” said state Rep. Ragen Hatcher, D-Gary, about the park named after her father, Richard Hatcher, the city’s first Black mayor.
City of Gary works with residents
On a recent Saturday morning, Mayor Eddie Melton addressed a crowd of residents and city workers from the steps of Gary City Hall, praising the turnout for that day’s cleanup. “This is a beautiful sight,” Melton said, acknowledging the hundreds of volunteers assembled.
On April 13, volunteers sprawled across downtown Gary, cleaning near City Hall, the Genesis Center, the Adam Benjamin Transportation Center, and extending their efforts down the Broadway corridor. Armed with black garbage bags, they collected litter, debris, large weeds, and broken branches.
“We can’t do this alone,” Melton emphasized. “This is a collective effort. We must come together as a community.”
For each cleaning day, the city dispatches workers with rumbling lawnmowers to hack untamed grass while volunteers get their hands dirty picking up litter, trash, and debris. Together, workers and volunteers work hand-in-hand to revitalize public space.
Gary is one of several Rust Belt cities strategizing ways to deal with urban decay while facing a declining population. Gary Chief Operating Officer Michael Suggs said the community-based inspiration for the Think B.I.G. initiative came in part from a nearby city.
“This is an effort that has come from our kind of borrowing some of the work that was done in the city of Detroit,” Suggs told Capital B Gary.
“One of the things Detroit had that we didn’t was the manpower,” he said. “But what we have done is broken down the silos and utilized folks across the board instead of vertically, and we’ve reached out to stakeholders and asked for their help.”
Raven Hall, Gary’s deputy director of general services, has served as the city contact for the Think B.I.G. initiative and has felt the city’s excitement grow over the past few weeks.
“People are excited to help. They really want to see Gary come back and their neighborhoods to look better,” Hall told Capital B Gary.
“Everybody’s excited about the initiative and about what they see this administration trying to do.”
That excitement has translated into a sizable volunteer unit of residents like Veroy Andrew, who worked alongside Hall on the south side of 21st Avenue in front of Hatcher Park.
“Everybody wants things to happen,” said Andrew, a Gary resident, as he picked up torn white paper strewn across the grass. “The question is, what are you willing to do?”
Residents looking to get involved may register online at the city’s Think B.I.G. volunteer registration page.
